Racism ran rampant at a Starbucks in Midtown Manhattan earlier this week.

On Tuesday, 22-year-old photojournalist, Mohammed Elshamy and his friend were meeting for coffee when they were allegedly verbally harassed by a white woman in the shop because of their race.

Elshamy told Mashable the incident lasted nearly 10 minutes. The following day, he was still shaken up by the comments that were made and decided to share his negative encounter online with over 11,000 Facebook followers.

New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the world, so it makes sense that its tech scene employs more women and minorities than Silicon Valley. But in all, the city does not buck industry trends of underrepresentation, according to a study by the Center for an Urban Future.

The city's tech industry is composed of 40% women and 21% underrepresented minorities, according to the study, citing data pulled from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

That 21% figure is made up of 11% Hispanic and 9% Black employees, with 1% who list themselves as Other. The rest looks a bit closer to what you'd see in the Valley: 62% White and 16% Asian Read more...

As the market continues to mature, and as we watch a blossoming of SaaS activity in New York City, we believe that NYC is poised to become a genuine leader in the formation of companies leading the next wave of enterprise transformation. Read More

Take a look at the last decade’s fastest-growing companies. You’ll notice they have one thing in common: They’re all platforms.YouTube was not the first video-hosting site, but it was the first to disrupt the stagnating online broadcasting model, creating a platform with digital engagement at its core. And the catalyst for Google’s exponential growth trajectory was when… Read More

A New York state court ruled Tuesday that Facebook must comply with search warrants from New York prosecutors for information on 381 users

As per the court's decision, Facebook cannot challenge prosecutors' search warrants, which demanded the users' photos, private messages and account data. Individual defendants can challenge a warrant and move for their data to be suppressed by the court, but only after prosecutors receive the evidence

The ruling applies to 381 search warrants served by the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 2013 seeking information on users suspected of Social Security fraud — the largest number of search warrants Facebook has ever received at once. Read more...

In the process of growth, startups change. They change from scrappy three-person operations to behemoths with new employees rolling in daily. They go on hiring sprees and the founders no longer know the people sitting at cubicles outside their offices. Bigger companies – Google and the like – start sniffing around. And those changes add up – going from 50 mph to lightspeed is… Read More

Now that we’re settled into our new digs, we’re just about ready to go to print. We want as many community members as possible to join.

The final deadline to opt in to have your photo on our wall is one week from today: Thursday, Sept. 1. To participate, click the “connect” button below. Follow the prompts through the end to ensure your photo is included in the opt-in list. Then Social Printshop will print a giant poster of you and your fellow Mashable readers’ Facebook avatars.

But in the middle of planning, we found out the wall we intended to adorn would be changing. In fact, all of our walls are — because we’re moving to a new office.

As the Mashable team gets settled into new digs in August, you can help us finish decorating. We’ve extended the deadline to opt in to our real-life Facebook wall to September 1. To participate, click the “connect” button below and we’ll use that to pull your profile picture. Then Social Printshop will print a giant poster of readers’ Facebook avatars.

We hope to connect with as many of you as possible by September 1. A big thanks to all our fans who have already participated!

Connect To Participate

We appreciate your readership, community and support, and this is a small way of saying thank you. Here’s a rendering of what the wall might look.

Thursday’s second annual Social Media Day celebration was a huge success throughout the world. Thousands of people came together offline in their local communities to recognize the technological advancements that enable everyone to connect with real-time information, communicate from miles apart and have their voices be heard.

Participation in the event more than doubled since last year with more than 1,400 Meetups and nearly 11,000 attendees. Seven cities and one U.S. state joined Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. in proclaiming the day official. The state of Arizona and the cities of New York, Toronto, Dublin, Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada and San Jose and San Carlos, California officially marked June 30 as Social Media Day.

Around the world, Social Media Day Meetups took place in 90 countries across six continents. Some of the most well-attended events occurred in places like Sao Paolo, Panama City, Toronto, Detroit and Santa Ana, California.

Nearly 43,000 tweets were sent with hashtag #smday, and 26,000 of those were on Thursday alone. Notable accounts such as Facebook, DKNY, WWE Universe, and the Miami Heat mentioned #smday on Twitter, showing the event’s reach across a wide variety of communities. There are more than a thousand photos on Flickr, Instagram and Facebook as well as hundreds of videos on YouTube with hashtag #smday.

After weeks of debate and attention, The New York Senate has legalized same-sex marriage in the third-most populated state in the U.S. There is no shortage of reaction across the social web.

The bill passed with a vote of 33-29, making it the sixth state to legalize it. Gay marriage is a controversial topic in the U.S., and that has caused no shortage of discussion from both sides of the aisle, and the social web has been no exception. One NY Senator even asked his followers how he should vote on the bill.

We’ve gathered some of the reaction across Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites. Check out the reactions, and let us know your feelings on the historic vote in the comments below.

NY Gay Marriage Bill Passes: Twitter Reactions

@NYSenate

The New York Senate Twitter account announces the results.

@NYSSenAdams

New York State Senator Eric Adams speaks out after the vote.

@GavinNewsom

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, congratulates the New York State Legislature.

@JulieBolcer

Reporter Julie Bolcer explains that this vote doesn't make the bill into law just yet.

@SummerNasser

An opponent of the bill tweets her disappointment.

@SenKennedy

New York Senator Tim Kennedy reacts.

@DannyZucker

Writer/Producer Danny Zucker has a lot of plastic grooms he can sell now.

@MikeBloomberg

New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg checks into the "Marriage Equalitocalypse" on Foursquare.

@ActuallyNPH

Actor Neil Patrick Harris reacts to the news.

@OSULadyCowboy

Another Twitter user tweets her disappointment in the passage of the bill.

@SenGillibrand

U.S. Senator Gillibrand (D-NY) is elated over the vote.

@danielwein

Many supporters are gathering at New York's Stonewall Inn to celebrate.

Foursquare's "Marriage Equalitocalypse"

Nearly 1,000 New Yorkers have checked in so far.

The Empire State Building TwitPic

This TwitPic is getting spread around the web, but we believe it was taken earlier, due to the fog currently covering the ESB. The ESB is scheduled to display rainbow colors all weekend as part of Pride Week.